- Mitt Romney (Utah) $13,647,676
- Richard Burr (North Carolina) $6,987,380
- Roy Blunt (Missouri) $4,555,722
- Thom Tillis (North Carolina) $4,421,333
- Marco Rubio (Florida) $3,303,355
- Joni Ernst (Iowa) $3,124,773
- Rob Portman (Ohio) $3,063,327
- Todd C. Young (Indiana) $2,897,582
- Bill Cassidy (Louisiana) $2,867,074
- Tom Cotton (Arkansas) $1,968,714
- Pat Toomey (Pennsylvania) $1,475,448
- Josh Hawley (Missouri) $1,391,548
- Marsha Blackburn (Tennessee) $1,306,130
- Ron Johnson (Wisconsin) $1,269,486Mitch McConnell (Kentucky) $1,267,139
- Mike Braun (Indiana) $1,249,967
- John Thune (South Dakota) $638,942
- Shelley Moore Capito (West Virginia) $341,738
- Richard Shelby (Alabama) $258,514
- Chuck Grassley (Iowa) $226,007
- John Neely Kennedy (Louisiana) $215,788
- Ted Cruz (Texas) $176,274Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) $146,262
- Steve Daines (Montana) $123,711
- Cindy Hyde-Smith (Mississippi) $109,547
- Roger Wicker (Mississippi) $106,680
- Rand Paul (Kentucky) $104,456
- Mike Rounds (South Dakota) $95,049
- John Boozman (Arkansas) $82,352
- John Cornyn (Texas) $78,945
- Ben Sasse (Nebraska) $68,623
- Jim Inhofe (Oklahoma) $66,758
- Lindsey Graham (South Carolina) $55,961
- Mike Crapo (Idaho) $55,039
- Jerry Moran (Kansas) $34,718
- John Barrasso (Wyoming) $26,989
- John Hoeven (North Dakota) $22,050
- Susan Collins (Maine) $19,638
- James Lankford (Oklahoma) $18,955Tim Scott (South Carolina) $18,513
- Kevin Cramer (North Dakota) $13,255Jim Risch (Idaho) $18,850
- Tim Scott (South Carolina) $18,513
VOTE THEM OUT OF OFFICE. DONATIONS TO POLITICAL CANDIDATES FROM SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS ARE KILLING PEOPLE AND ERODING OUR DEMOCRACY. IT’S CORRUPT AND As FATAl AS CANCER.
The argument that these gun reform changes infringe on Second Amendment rights is bogus and is spread by anti-safety opportunists, the biggest offender being the coldest, worst, most dangerous president in US history, Donald Trump. Thankfully, his cartoonish presence is beginning to fade, but not soon enough to prevent more deaths of innocent people, especially children, because of his phony worship of guns. In the past, Trump has publicly admitted he supports background checks and doesn’t think the public needs to possess assault weapons. However, his hunger for power has led him not to repeat these positions because the NRA and gun- fetish supporters got angry at him. The only positive that could come from the recent, horrific mass killings in Buffalo, NY and Uvalde, Texas is that Trump, Cruz, Governor Abbott, and every senator owned by the NRA would be voted out public office. The media, the free press, should restrict covering Trump’s dangerous narrative of the “big lie” and blanket support of unrestricted gun possession.
Senators owned by the gun lobby refuse to vote to pass two bills that would expand background checks: H.R. 8 and H.R. 1446. These bills have passed in the House but not yet in the Senate. It’s the Republican party, the party under the control of gun lobbyists that refuse to support changes to current gun laws such as:
- Universal background checks
- Banning military assault weapons
- Raise the age to 21 from 18 for gun purchasing
- Implement waiting periods for the purchases and possession of guns
- Red flag laws
Chief Justice Warren Burger ( appointed by Richard Nixon in 1969) made the following statement on the Second Amendment:
“The Gun Lobby’s interpretation of the Second Amendment is one of the greatest pieces of fraud, I repeat the word fraud, on the American People by special interest groups that I have ever seen in my lifetime. The real purpose of the Second Amendment was to ensure that state armies – the militia – would be maintained for the defense of the state. The very language of the Second Amendment refutes any argument that it was intended to guarantee every citizen an unfettered right to any kind of weapon he or she desires.
The arguments from NRA president Wayne LaPierre, Donald Trump, Ted Cruz, Gregg Abbott, and those crazy gun-fetish ladies at the convention present arguments in favor of more guns as the solution for mass shootings are ignorant. At the Uvalde shooting, there were 19 police armed with guns who stood in the hall while the shooter used his AR-15 on the children. Another weak, defensive argument is the blame lies on the issue of mental health. Can these liars explain why other countries worldwide have mentally ill people but do not have an epidemic of mass shootings? If it is accurate that the mental health problem in America is at massive levels, why not limit gun access instead of increasing it? Governor Abbott presents weak arguments to resist increased gun safety laws. He cherry-picks examples of shootings where background checks would not have helped, as in situations where kids steal their parent’s guns. Gun violence and mass shooting are complex issues, and deciding how to address solutions with the attitude of there being “one” solution instead of multiple approaches is short-sighted.
The mental health issue is a legitimate problems. However, Republicans worry only about the case when used to maintain their position on expansive, dangerous gun rights. Texas ranks #50 in the US in access to mental health services. Beto O’Rourke should easily defeat Gregg Abbot for governor in 2022. Texas needs a person with soul, heart, and ethics to save the state from ruin.
